 |
|
     |
|
|
|
Between Babel and Beast
(America and Empires in Biblical Perspective)
The Glory of Kings: A Festschrift for James B. Jordan
Fyodor Dostoevsky
(Christian Encounters Series)
Athanasius
(Foundations of Theological Exegesis and Christian Spirituality)
The Four: A Survey of the Gospels
Defending Constantine: The Twilight of an Empire and the Dawn of Christendom
From Behind the Veil: The Epistles of John
Deep Exegesis:The Mystery of Reading Scripture
1 & 2 Kings
Brazos Theological Commentary
The Promise Of His Appearing: An Exposition Of Second Peter
A Great Mystery: Fourteen Wedding Sermons
Deep Comedy: Trinity, Tragedy, And Hope In Western Literature
Miniatures & Morals: The Christian Novels of Jane Austen
The Priesthood of the Plebs: A Theology of Baptism
A Son To Me: An Exposition of 1 & 2 Samuel
From Silence to Song: The Davidic Liturgical Revolution
Ascent to Love: A Guide to Dante's Divine Comedy
Blessed Are the Hungry: Meditations on the Lord's Supper
A House For My Name: A Survey of the Old Testament
Heroes of the City of Man: A Christian Guide to Select Ancient Literature
Brightest Heaven of Invention: A Christian Guide To Six Shakespeare Plays
Wise Words: Family Stories That Bring the Proverbs to Life
The Kingdom and the Power: Rediscovering the Centrality of the Church
Matthew’s quotation of Isaiah 53:4 in 8:17 is not from the LXX. It is either Matthew’s own translation, or a quotation from another Greek translation that is no longer extant.
Matthew’s quotation is closer to the Hebrew than the LXX, but according to Davies and Allison, Matthew has shifted the sense of the Hebrew text: “In Isaiah the servant suffers vicariously, carrying informities in himself; in the Gospel he heals the sick by taking away their diseases. In the OT the distress seems to be mental or spiritual; in Matthew physical illnesses are the subject. So a text about vicarious suffering has become a text about healing, and two different pictures are involved.” They suggest that Matthew sees healing as a “type of Jesus’ redemptive suffering,” or that “the association between sin and the distasteful reality of disease was so intimate . . . that the healing of sickness could be conceived of as a taking away of sins.”
But there doesn’t seem to be any conflict to resolve here. Matthew shows us Jesus healing, often by touching (8:1, 15). At the end of the first triad of healings, Matthew unveils the reality of the healing by quoting from Isaiah. Isaiah tells us that the Servant – whom Matthew has already identified as Jesus (3:17) – takes our weakness and experiences our sicknesses. Matthew says that this is what Jesus is doing. Like his other fulfillment formulae, 8:17 is not simply a straightforward this-is-that equivalence; the quotation from Isaiah is a theologically weighty explanation of what is happening when Jesus heals.
posted by Peter J. Leithart on Monday, January 10, 2011 at 10:59 am
Permission is given to use material on this site, provided the source is cited, blog entries are republished in full, and the author is notified in advance.
